An Indian origin businessman Ajay Jagota has joined the newly-formed Brexit Party to contest the European Parliament elections next month after switching his allegiance from Conservative Party.
Jagota resigned as a chairman of the local South Shields Conservative Association in northern England earlier this year after claiming that the Tory party had failed to address complaints he made about anti-Muslim racism.
A self-proclaimed housing and property expert and the founder of Keep it Simple house lettings outfit had earlier signed a joint letter of Tory association chairmen calling on British Prime Minister Theresa May to “recognize the discontent” over her Brexit deal and analyze alternatives “that respect [the government’s] red lines and offer an ambitious and positive global future for our country”.
Now, just as campaigning for the European Union (EU) elections steps up, Jagota has joined ranks with Nigel Farage’s new anti-EU Brexit Party and will stand as a Member for the European Parliament (MEP) from London.
“This [Brexit] is such an important issue that for me it was imperative that I did whatever I could to ensure that those 17.4 million people that voted to Leave were not let down,” Jagota told The Sunday Telegraph.
“I would have hoped for the Conservative Party to deliver on their manifesto and the referendum result, which we were promised they would.
“Combined with my experience in the Tory party as chairman and now the Brexit issue I felt I could no longer rely on them as a party with the incumbent leader [Theresa May],” he said.
Jagota is being perceived as one of many deserting the Tories, after reports that the ruling Conservative Party was shedding supporters to the new Brexit Party amid discontentment with Prime Minister May’s treatment of Brexit.
Britain is forced to contest the EU elections on May 23 as an aftermath of the repeated defeat of the British PM’s Brexit withdrawal agreement in the United Kingdom Parliament.
